Joanna Yeates's landlord Chris Jefferies wins libel payout

Joanna Yeates's landlord Chris Jefferies has accepted ''substantial''
undisclosed libel damages from eight newspapers over allegations made
against him over her death.

Chris Jefferies was entirely innocent of the killingPhoto: PA

11:04AM BST 29 Jul 2011

The retired schoolmaster was not at London's High Court for the settlement of his actions against the publishers of the Sun, the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror, the Daily Mail, the Daily Record, the Daily Express, the Daily Star and the Scotsman.

His solicitor, Louis Charalambous, told Mr Justice Tugendhat that ''in recognition of the immense distress and damage'' caused, they had all agreed to apologise for the ''seriously defamatory'' allegations made in the wake of the landscape architect's December 2010 death and pay substantial damages.

Mr Charalambous, of Simons Muirhead & Burton, said the newspapers had acknowledged the falsity of the allegations in question which were contained in over 40 articles published in late December 2010 and early January 2011.

Speaking outside court, he added: "Christopher Jefferies is the latest victim of the regular witch hunts and character assassination conducted by the worst elements of the British tabloid media.

"Many of the stories published in these newspapers are designed to 'monster' the individual, in flagrant disregard for his reputation, privacy and rights to a fair trial.

"These newspapers have now apologised to him and paid substantial damages but they do so knowing that once the conditional fee agreement rules are changed next year victims of tabloid witch hunts will no longer have the same access to justice."

Lawyer Bambos Tsiattalou, senior partner at Stokoe Partnership, advised Mr Jefferies following his arrest on December 30 2010 on suspicion of Ms Yeates's murder - he was released on unconditional bail two days later and subsequently released from bail with no further action.

He said today: "We warned the media by letter, immediately following Mr Jefferies' arrest, in the strongest possible terms to desist from publishing stories which were damaging or defamatory.

"We were dismayed that our warnings went unheeded and are pleased that the newspapers, in settling Mr Jefferies' claims, have acknowledged the extent of the damage to his reputation."

Later, the Daily Mirror was fined £50,000 and The Sun £18,000 for contempt of court over publication of articles about Mr Jefferies.

Three judges at the High Court handed out the penalties to the publishers of the two tabloid newspapers.

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, sitting in London with Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Owen, ruled that the newspapers breached contempt laws in reports about Miss Yeates's landlord.

Attorney General Dominic Grieve, who brought contempt proceedings and told the judges that reports would have posed a "substantial risk" of prejudicing any trial Mr Jefferies might have faced, described the court's decision as an "extremely satisfactory outcome".

Both newspapers had disputed Mr Grieve's allegations and denied contempt.